KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Tuesday defended the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by his government, saying at the 13th World Islamic Economic Forum that it was the right decision to maintain the country's competitive edge.
Citing the introduction of GST as one of the bold but unpopular measures made by the government to spur change to its development policies, Najib said such policies have produced results, as seen in the country's third quarter GDP growth, which reached 6.2 percent.
The three-day forum, held in the eastern Malaysian state of Sarawak, saw the attendance of Najib and dozens of other guests including co-founder of Apple Steve Wozniak and Islamic Development Bank vice president Mohamed Nouri Jouini.
According to a report from the Malaysian national news agency Bernama, Najib noted the disruptive changes brought by the Fourth Industrial Revolution such as artificial intelligence, 3D printing and Internet of Things, and vowed to embrace the changes rather than avoid them.
He said Malaysia has formulated its own digital policy, setting a target to make digital economy constitute 20 percent of the country's gross domestic product by 2020.
"That is why we have recently become the first country in the world outside China to establish a Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ)," he said, adding the DFTZ will provide physical and virtual zones to facilitate small and medium enterprises to capitalize on the rise of cross-border e-commerce and digital economy.
He also vowed to improve the education quality in Malaysia to better prepare the young people for a evolving world.
"We must equip our young people with higher order thinking skills, so that they are open-minded, creative and innovative, and ready to adapt to the jobs that are not yet even in existence today," he said.
